THE TOWN

Rotonda (Workshop at Pollino National Park Office)
Rotonda (3.537 inhabitants) is located at 580 m above sea level at the border with Calabria region.
The town is divided into two parts: the modern one located downstream and the oldest one located upstream.
The economy of Rotonda is based on tourism, thanks to the Pollino National Park, and agriculture: the various awards to the typical products ( Red Aubergine or “Poverello” Bean) are very important for the growth of the economy of the small town.

Latronico (field trip)
Latronico is a small town of 4.600 inhabitants located at 888 m above the sea level. The town is surrounded by three huge mountains: Santa Croce mountain (1893 m), Punta del Corvo mountain (1880 m s.l.m.) e Pizzo Falcone mountain (1900 m s.l.m.). Latronico has an agricultural economy and a fair amount of services.
A few kilometers from the town, surrounded by greenery, there is a big thermal center where you can have many types of mineral water treatments (from May to October). The local sulphurous waters are used for diseases of the respiratory tract, rheumatic, hepatobiliary and gastrointestinal, veins and rehabilitation of respiratory function. These health benefits are well known from the beginning of the 900th.

WORKSHOP

Workshop – Living the National Park: nature, wellness and art.

Nature, environment, biodiversity, culture and art: that’s the meaning of protected areas.
Starting from the experience of the Pollino National Park, we will discuss about:
– Opportunities for enhancement of these areas
– Arrangements for sharing best practices
– Cooperative projects and institutional cooperation
– Strategies for endogenous resources

FIELDTRIP

Earth Cinema
In 2009, the indian sculptor Anish Kapoor created the permanent, site-specific work Earth Cinema for Pollino National Park, the largest national park in Italy. Kapoor’s work, Cinema di Terra (Earth Cinema), is a 45m long, 3m wide and 7m deep cut into the landscape made from concrete and earth. People can enter from both sides and walk along it, viewing the earth void within. Earth Cinema officially opened to public in September 2009.

Calda caves
The five caves site locations in Calda (Latronico) constitute an important testimony to the development of the prehistory of southern Italy, in particular the period from the Mesolithic period (8000 BC) and the Bronze Age (1300 BC). Recent studies, conducted by prof. Giuliano Cremonesi between 1970 and 1988, continued in 1997 by prof. Renata Grifoni Cremonesi, have allowed us to understand the history of ancient human groups.